Letter of invitation to tender

Our ref.: EuropeAid/130624/L/SUP/GE

Dear Sirs,

SUBJECT: INVITATION TO TENDER FOR SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF CAMERAS, BINOCULARS AND HIGH CAPABILITY TELE LENSES TO EUMM

This is an invitation to tender for the above mentioned supply contract. Please find enclosed the following documents, which constitute the tender dossier:

A.  INSTRUCTIONS TO TENDERERS

B.  DRAFT CONTRACT AND SPECIAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING ANNEXES

DRAFT CONTRACT

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

ANNEX I GENERAL CONDITIONS

ANNEX II +III TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS + TECHNICAL offer (to be tailored to the specific project)

ANNEX IV BUDGET BREAKDOWN (model financial offer)

ANNEX V FORMS

C.  FURTHER INFORMATION

ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLIANCE GRID

EVALUATION GRID

D.  TENDER FORM FOR A SUPPLY CONTRACT

For full information about procurement procedures please consult the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions and its annexes, which can be downloaded from the following web page: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/index_en.htm.

We look forward to receiving your tender before the deadline specified in point 10 of the Instructions to the address specified in the same point.

Yours sincerely,

Larisa Mrnkova

Chief Procurement Officer

2008 Page 1 of 77

A. INSTRUCTIONS TO TENDERERS

PUBLICATION REF.: EuropeAid/130624/L/SUP/GE

In submitting a tender, the tenderer accepts in full and without restriction the special and general conditions governing the contract as the sole basis of this tendering procedure, whatever its own conditions of sale may be, which it hereby waives. Tenderers are expected to examine carefully and comply with all instructions, forms, contract provisions and specifications contained in this tender dossier. Failure to submit a tender containing all the required information and documentation within the deadline specified will lead to the rejection of the tender. No account can be taken of any reservation in the tender as regards the tender dossier; any reservation may result in the immediate rejection of the tender without further evaluation.

These Instructions set out the rules for the submission, selection and implementation of contracts financed under this call for tenders, in conformity with the provisions of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions, which is applicable to the present call (available on the Internet at this address:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/index_en.htm).

1. Supplies to be provided

1.1 The subject of the contract is:

The supply and delivery of cameras, binoculars and high capability tele lenses to EUMM

Supply will be implemented in one Lot at EUMM HQ warehouse, Tbilisi, Georgia, INCOTERMS DDP or DDU (DDP for local companies) /DDU (for international companies) [1] and maximum implementation period will last for two months, in accordance with point 15 of the Procurement Notice.

The signature of the supply contract imposes no obligation on the Contracting Authority to purchase the quantities as estimated in Annex II-III.

1.2 The supplies must comply fully with the technical specifications set out in the tender dossier (technical annex II-III) and conform in all respects with the quantities, models, samples, measurements and other instructions.

1.3 Tenderers are not authorised to tender for a variant in addition to the present tender.

2. Timetable

DATE / TIME*
Informative meeting / N/A / N/A
Deadline for request for any clarifications from the Contracting Authority / 17 October 2010 / N/A
Last date on which clarifications are issued by the Contracting Authority / 27 October 2010 / N/A
Deadline for submission of tenders / 8 November 2010 / 10:00 CET
Tender opening session / 8 November 2010 / 12:30 CET
Notification of award to the successful tenderer / November 2010 / N/A
Signature of the contract / December 2010 / N/A


* All times are in the time zone of the country of the Contracting Authority
 Provisional date

3. Participation

3.1 Participation in tendering is open to all legal persons participating either individually or in a grouping (consortium) or tenderers which are established in a the Member State of the European Union or in a country or territory of the regions covered and/or authorised by the specific instruments applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed. All works, supplies and services must originate in one or more of these countries. The participation is also open to international organisations. The participation of natural persons is directly governed by the specific instruments applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed.

3.2 These terms refer to all nationals of the said states and to all legal entities, companies or partnerships constituted under, and governed by, the civil, commercial or public law of such states and having their statutory office, central administration or principal place of business there. A legal entity, company or partnership having only its statutory office there must be engaged in an activity which has an effective and continuous link with the economy of the state concerned.

3.3 These rules apply to:

a) tenderers

b) members of a consortium

3.4 Natural persons, companies or undertakings falling into a situation set out in section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions are excluded from participation in and the award of contracts. Tenderers must provide declarations to the effect that they are not in any of these exclusion situations. The declarations must cover all the members of a joint venture/consortium. Tenderers who have been guilty of making false declarations may also incur financial penalties and exclusion in accordance with section 2.3.4 of the Practical Guide.

3.5 Sub contracting is not allowed.

3.6 To be eligible for participation in this tender procedure, tenderers must prove to the satisfaction of the Contracting Authority that they comply with the necessary legal, technical and financial requirements and have the means to carry out the contract effectively. In particular, the following section criteria are to be met for any invited tenderer to be eligible and his offer evaluated:

3.6.1 Administrative criterion

The invited tender has to submit a valid documentary proof of registration with the competent administrative authority of the country which it belongs. For any document in a language different than English, a certified translation is to be submitted.

3.6.2 Technical and professional capacity criterion

The invited tenderer must have successfully completed, during the last 3 years, at least 1 similar project with a budget of at least that of this contract in fields, whose nature and complexity are comparable to the supply concerned by the tender. The table under point 6 of the Tender Submission Form, if duly filled in, will be accepted as a satisfactory proof for the purposes of eligibility. The Contracting Authority reserves the right to ask for clarifications and/or integrations on such a table.

3.6.3 Financial and economic capacity criterion

The invited tenderer must have a reliable financial and economic situation clearly resulting from point 3 of the Tender Form. The main criterion will be the annual turnover which must be at least twice the value of the present contract over the last three years (2007, 2008 and 2009). In case no information from 2009 might be available, please provide information from 2006. The table under point 3 of the Tender Submission Form, if duly filled in, will be accepted as a satisfactory proof for the purposes of eligibility. The Contracting Authority reserves the right to ask for clarifications and/or integrations on such a table

4. Origin

4.1 Unless otherwise provided in the contract, supplies must originate in a Member State of the European Union or a country covered by the programme. The origin of the goods must be determined according to the Community Customs Code or the international agreements to which the country concerned is a signatory.

4.2 When submitting its tender, the tenderer must state expressly that all the goods meet the requirements concerning origin and must state the countries of origin. It may be asked to provide additional information in this connection.

5. Type of contract

Unit-Price contract.

6. Currency

Tenders must be presented in Euro[2].

7. Lots

This tender procedure is not divided into lots.

8. Period of validity

8.1 Tenderers shall be bound by their tenders for a period of 90 days from the deadline for the submission of tenders.

8.2 In exceptional cases and prior to the expiry of the original tender validity period, the Contracting Authority may ask tenderers in writing to extend this period by 40 days. Such requests and the responses to them must be made in writing. Tenderers that agree to do so will not be permitted to modify their tenders and they are bound to extend the validity of their tender guarantees for the revised period of validity of the tender. If they refuse, without forfeiture of their tender guarantees, their participation in the tender procedure will be terminated.

8.3 The successful tenderer will be bound by its tender for a further period of 60 days. The further period is added to the validity period irrespective of the date of notification.

9. Language of offers

9.1 The offers, all correspondence and documents related to the tender exchanged by the tenderer and the Contracting Authority must be written in the language of the procedure which is English.

If the supporting documents are not written in one of the official languages of the European Union, a translation into the language of the call for tender must be attached. Where the documents are in an official language of the European Union other than the one of the procedure, it is however strongly recommended to provide a translation into the language of the call for tenders, in order to facilitate the evaluation of the documents.

10. Submission of tenders

10.1 Tenders must be received before the deadline specified in 10.3. They must include all the documents specified in point 11 of these Instructions and be sent to the following address:

European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM)
Procurement Section
49 Krtsanisi Street, Tbilisi, Georgia
0102 Tbilisi 2, Georgia.

Tenders must comply with the following conditions:

10.2 All tenders must be submitted in 1 (one) original, marked “original”, and 3 (three) copies signed in the same way as the original and marked “copy”.

10.3 All tenders must be received at European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) Procurement Section before the deadline 8 November 2010 at 10:00. CET.

by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or hand-delivered against receipt signed by the contracting authority or its representative.

10.4 All tenders, including annexes and all supporting documents, must be submitted in a sealed envelope bearing only:

a) the above address;

b) the reference code of this tender procedure, (i.e., EuropeAid/130624/L/SUP/GE)

c) the title of the tender and where applicable, the number of the lot(s) tendered for;

d) the words “Not to be opened before the tender opening session” in the language of the tender dossier and <equivalent phrase in the local language>.

e) the name of the tenderer.

The technical and financial offers must be placed together in a sealed envelope. The envelope should then be placed in another single sealed envelope/package for each original and copies, unless their volume requires a separate submission.

11. Content of tenders

All tenders submitted must comply with the requirements in the tender dossier and comprise:

Part 1: Technical offer:

·  a detailed description of the supplies tendered in conformity with the technical specifications;

The technical offer should be presented as per template (annex II+III*, the contractor’s technical offer) completed when and if necessary by separate sheets for details.

Part 2: Financial offer:

·  A financial offer calculated on a basis of DDP/DDU[3] for the supplies tendered, including if applicable:

This financial offer should be presented as per template (annex IV*, budget breakdown), and if necessary completed by separate sheets for the details. An electronic version of the financial offer to be submitted as well in an excel 2007 file format.

Part 3: Documentation:

To be supplied following templates in annex*:

·  The “Tender Form for a Supply Contract”, duly completed, which includes the tenderer’s declaration, point 7, (from each member if a consortium):

·  The details of the bank account into which payments should be made (financial identification form) (Where the tenderer has already signed another contract with the European Commission, it may provide instead of the financial identification form either its financial identification form number or a copy of the financial identification form provided on that occasion, unless a change occurred in the meantime.)

·  The legal entity file and the supporting documents (Where the tenderer has already signed another contract with the European Commission, it may provide instead of the legal entity sheet and its supporting documents either its legal entity number or a copy of the legal entity sheet provided on that occasion, unless a change in its legal status occurred in the meantime.)

To be supplied on free formats:

·  A description of the warranty conditions, which must be in accordance with the conditions laid down in Article 32 of the General Conditions.

·  Duly authorised signature: an official document (statutes, power of attorney, notary statement, etc.) proving that the person who signs on behalf of the company/joint venture/consortium is duly authorised to do so.

Remarks:

Tenderers are requested to follow this order of presentation.

Annex* refers to templates attached to the tender dossier. These templates are also available on: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/index_en.htm

12. Pricing

12.1 Tenderers will be deemed to have satisfied themselves, before submitting their tender(s), as to (its)(their) correctness and completeness, to have taken account of all that is required for the full and proper execution of the contract and to have included all costs in their rates and prices.

12.2 Depending on whether the supplies proposed are manufactured locally or are to be imported into the country of the Beneficiary, Tenderers must quote, by lot, unit (and overall) prices for their tenders on one of the following bases:

a) for supplies manufactured locally, unit and overall prices must be quoted for delivery to the place of destination and in accordance with the above conditions, excluding all domestic taxation applicable to their manufacture and sale;

b) for supplies to be imported into the country of the Beneficiary, unit and overall prices must be quoted for delivery to the place of destination and in accordance with the above conditions, excluding all duties and taxes applicable to their importation and VAT, from which they are exempt.